{"id":2391,"date":"2011-11-22T15:26:26","date_gmt":"2011-11-22T19:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/"},"modified":"2019-10-02T11:01:45","modified_gmt":"2019-10-02T15:01:45","slug":"samuel-de-champlain-1604-1616","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.historymuseum.ca\/virtual-museum-of-new-france\/the-explorers\/samuel-de-champlain-1604-1616\/","title":{"rendered":"Samuel de Champlain 1604-1616"},"content":{"rendered":"

Samuel de Champlain (sometimes called Samuel Champlain in English documents) was born at Brouage, in the Saintonge province of Western France, about 1570. He wrote in 1613 that he acquired an interest “from a very young age in the art of navigation, along with a love of the high seas.” He was not yet twenty when he made his first voyage, to Spain and from there to the West Indies and South America. He visited Porto Rico (now Puerto Rico,) Mexico, Colombia, the Bermudas and Panama. Between 1603 and 1635, he made 12 stays in North America. He was an indefatigable explorer \u2013 and an assistant to other explorers \u2013 in the quest for an overland route across America to the Pacific, and onwards to the riches of the Orient.
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The Mystery of Samuel de Champlain<\/h2>\n

In the title of his first book, published in 1603, Des Sauvages, ou voyage de Samuel Champlain, de Brouage, fait en la France nouvelle l’an mil six cens trois\u2026<\/em> [“Concerning the Primitives: Or Travels of Samuel Champlain of Brouage, Made in New France in the Year 1603”], Samuel de Champlain indicated that he was a native of Brouage in the Saintonge region of France. But a fire in the 17th century completely destroyed the town records of Brouage, where the young Champlain was believed to have spent his childhood. Since then, historians have speculated about the birth date of the man often described as the “Father of New France.”<\/p>\n

The name “Samuel,” taken from the Old Testament, suggests the possibility that Champlain was born into a Protestant family during a period when France was torn by endless conflicts over religion. However, by the time he undertook his voyages of discovery and exploration to Canada, he had definitely converted to Catholicism. The marriage contract between Samuel de Champlain and H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Boull\u00e9, dated 1610, shows that he was the son of the then-deceased sea captain, Anthoine de Champlain, and Marguerite Le Roy. On this basis, several historians have deduced that Champlain must have been born around 1570.<\/p>\n

These are the few facts that history reveals, leaving room for all sorts of hypotheses about Champlain’s date of birth. But things were to take a different turn in the spring of 2012 when Jean-Marie Germe, a French genealogist, was examining the archives of the Protestant parish of Saint Yon de La Rochelle. In Champlain’s time, La Rochelle was a neighbouring town and rival of Brouage. What Mr. Germe found there was the baptismal record of Samuel Chapeleau, son of Antoine Chapeleau and Marguerite Le Roy, dated August 13, 1574. <\/p>\n

Baptismal certificate of our Samuel de Champlain<\/strong>
\u00a9 Parish record of births and marriages, Church of Saint-Yon, La Rochelle I 144 (I 11) Departmental archives of Charente-Maritime, La Rochelle, France<\/div>\">\"Baptismal<\/a>

Baptismal certificate of our Samuel de Champlain<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Is this the baptismal certificate of the “Father of New France”? Certainly the document is difficult to read; the letters often have to be deciphered as much from their context, as from their appearance. Moreover, in that era the rules of spelling were flexible, to say the least. The different spellings used for the family name of the child and his father can be explained by the fact these names had perhaps previously been written down only rarely. A standard spelling had possibly not yet been adopted.<\/p>\n

What are the chances of finding another baptismal certificate dating from this era where the names are identical to those we find in other historical documents? The chances are in fact very small indeed. However, even though the family names of Chapeleau and Champlain are similar, this small difference \u2014 understandable as it may be \u2014 cautions us not to jump to conclusions. Although the probability is slight, it is still possible that this document has nothing to do with our Samuel de Champlain. <\/p>\n

If we are indeed looking at the baptismal certificate of our Samuel de Champlain, we can now say for certain that he was born into a Protestant family, most probably during the summer of 1574. But unless there is another discovery to equal the one made by Mr. Germe, a complete mystery will continue to surround Samuel de Champlain’s date and place of birth.<\/p>\n

Baptismal certificate of our Samuel de Champlain, detail<\/strong>
\u00a9 Parish record of births and marriages, Church of Saint-Yon, La Rochelle I 144 (I 11) Departmental archives of Charente-Maritime, La Rochelle, France<\/div>\">\"Baptismal<\/a>

Baptismal certificate of our Samuel de Champlain, detail<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

“On Friday, the thirteenth day of August, fifteen hundred and seventy-four, Samuel, son of Antoine Chapeleau and of m [word crossed out] Marguerite Le Roy, was baptized. Godfather, \u00c9tienne Paris; godmother, Marie Rousseau. Denors N. Girault.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In the Footsteps of Jacques Cartier<\/h2>\n

In 1602 or thereabouts, Henry IV of France appointed Champlain as hydrographer royal. Aymar de Chaste, governor of Dieppe in Northern France, had obtained a monopoly of the fur trade and set up a trading post at Tadoussac. He invited Champlain to join an expedition he was sending there. Champlain’s mission was clear; it was to explore the country called New France, examine its waterways and then choose a site for a large trading factory.<\/p>\n

Thus Champlain sailed from Honfleur on the fifteenth of March, 1603, and prepared to follow the route that Jacques Cartier had opened up in 1535. He proceeded to explore part of the valley of the Saguenay river and was led to suspect the existence of Hudson Bay. He then sailed up the St. Lawrence as far as Hochelaga (the site of Montreal.) Nothing was to be seen of the Amerindian people and village which Cartier had visited, and Sault St. Louis (the Lachine Rapids) still seemed impassable. However, Champlain learned from his guides that above the rapids there were three great lakes (Erie, Huron and Ontario) to be explored.<\/p>\n

Acadia and the Atlantic Coast<\/h2>\n

After Aymar de Chaste died in France in 1603, Pierre Du Gua de Monts became lieutenant-general of Acadia. In exchange for a ten years exclusive trading patent, de Monts undertook to settle sixty homesteaders a year in that part of New France. From 1604 to 1607, the search went on for a suitable permanent site for them. It led to the establishment of a short-lived settlement at Port Royal (Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia.)<\/p>\n

While the settlers were tilling, building, hunting and fishing, Champlain carried on with his appointed task of investigating the coastline and looking for safe harbours.<\/p>\n

Routes<\/h2>\n\r\n
\r\n \"Champlain\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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